By Duncan Nixon
Correspondent
The Lake Monticello Men’s Member Guest tournament has an interesting and challenging format that ends in a six-team shootout to determine the event’s overall champion. Six flights of six two-man teams were entered this year, which is full capacity. The teams in each flight play the other teams in the flight in nine hole matches over two days. On Saturday everyone plays 27 holes and on Sunday 18 holes. On each hole played, a point is awarded for the best gross score and the best net score. Therefore, for two days and 45 holes, every shot for each player counts. The team from each flight with the most points in gross and net competitions combined goes into a shoot-out on the 18th hole, organized and monitored by golf pro Mark Marshall.
The flights in the tournament are named for famous golfers and determined by the overall handicaps of the players on each team. Accordingly, flight one, the Nicklaus Flight, includes players with single digit handicaps, while the players in flight six, the Watson Flight have average handicaps over 20. However, in the shootout any team can win. Six teams shoot over a small pond, to the eighteenth green from approximately 100 yards in the first round. This is a distance from which all the players have a chance to make a really good shot, and a successful putt for a two could win the tournament for anyone. The 18th green is designed to allow for a considerable number of spectators and there was crowd of players and spouses on hand.
In the first shoot-out round, no one made a two, but teams from the fourth and fifth flight were eliminated as neither player on those teams made a three. For the second round, Marshall moved the tee location back to approximately 125 yards, still within reach for all the players. With eight players hitting to the green, five balls were on the green. Wayne Leeder, guest of Tim Coons was closest at about eight feet. Leeder and Coons were from the first flight. Coons was about 25 feet away with what he would describe as a double breaking putt, definitely a tester. But Coons calmly knocked it in. He said he felt comfortable over the putt because his teammate was so close. No other team made two so Coons and Leeder were the winners.
The winners in each Flight in gross points and in net points were awarded an attractive vase. In flight one, the gross point winner was the team of Coons and Leeder with 30. The net point winner was the team of Jim Beach and Jim Forkowitz. They tied with Matt Hafer and Paul Logan, but were declared winners on an established matching of cards basis. In the second Flight, the Woods Flight, first place in the gross was won by Michael Mundell and Andrew Mundell. The net winning team was Bill Scanlon and Robert Chiovaro.
The third Flight was the Hagen flight. The gross points winners were John Roeder and Ed Webb. They dominated the Flight, scoring a tournament high combined point total of 67 points. The top net score in that flight was 26.5, posted by Justin Sullivan and Billy Groves. In the Hogan Flight, the winning team on gross points was Ted Moser and Rick Quintaro. The net winners were the team of Paul and Andrew Schmidt. In the fifth flight, the Player Flight, the gross points winner was the team of Gary Jenifer and Lance Clark. The most net points were accumulated by Phillip Scott and Shawn Brown. In the sixth Flight, the gross point winners were Cliff Altschull and Daniel Apple, the net point winners were LMOA Board of Directors Chairman Jay Hinkle and David Hall.
The Member Guest program included breakfast each morning and a box lunch on Saturday. Each player received a goody bag containing a hat and shirt. Players could also sign up, for a fee, for themselves and a guest for a upscale dinner on Saturday night at the clubhouse, and for a pork barbeque lunch on Sunday. Players were very pleased with the food offerings and with the course conditions.
